Hi babes! I bet that a lot of you are still figuring out how you're going to do your make up for New Year's Eve or any other upcoming holiday parties, so I figured I'd provide you with some inspiration. This makeup look isn't super intricate or hard, but not for beginners either. Intermediate level skills are required. And I guarantee you'll look hawt as hell.

As I was informed by my girlfriends who are all just as obsessed with the new H&M beauty collection as I am: H&M recently added matte lipstick to their line of products, retailing at €9,99 like their other lipsticks. I am a big fan of how matte lipsticks can make your lips look all pillowy, full and soft like velvet, and I never understand why women's magazines always tell you that mattes make your lips seem smaller because that's definitely not the case for me. Obviously, I was eager to drop by and see the new mattes for myself. Our H&M only has about five of the fourteen shades I spotted online, which is a bit of a letdown, but I still managed to find a colour that I couldn't resist taking home.

Hi guys! This post is a sponsored collaboration with CityLife, a customer loyalty app which I will tell you all about if you keep on reading. Keep in mind that I do not accept sponsored content from advertisers I do not fully support, and I am 100% behind the app and the store I will be writing about today, so don't let the disclaimer deter you from reading on!

Do you hate the trouble of removing glitter nail polish? You know you do. Well, look ma, I made a pinterest-appropriate collage illustrating this neat little beauty hack I discovered! Yes, another Orly post, but I really do love this innovative nail polish brand. Enjoy and please don't gag at the close up of my nails covered in a weird layer of matte glue like substance.

Served with extra glitter!

Notes: a THIN layer of Orly One Night Stand. Can't stress that enough. The product was super goopy when I opened to bottle first, but after a few seconds the formula became much more runny and easier to work with. No idea why, but it did! And although the bottle says this will make your glitter polish last for 1-2 days until you remove it yourself, 2 days is quite a stretch. I'd say one night - 1 day before at least one nail bites the dust, unless you don't use your hands for cooking or cleaning. Still, this is a fantastic discovery for those who love the look of glitter nails for the upcoming holday party season, but hate the hassle of scrubbing/picking your nails until all of it is gone and you are left with sad little destroyed nails. Aka everyone.

Only few make up collabs were as anxiously awaited as Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani. After all, Gwen Stefani is an absolute icon, both of female kick-ass-ness in music (Just a Girl remains a timeless feminist anthem), as well as in style and beauty. Stefani has produced non stop beauty inspiration ever since the 90s, and her look is as current now as it was 20 years ago. No matter how crazy the combo, she made it look enviable. I mean, who else could rock hot pink eyeshadow used for contouring like she did in No Doubt's Ex-Girlfriend video? Or penciled on brows? Or a forehead full of glue on rhinestones? She kind of took a more vintage-glam beauty routine ever since I Know We're Cool, but she never stopped bringing it.

People didn't know what to expect from the collab (bright shades from Gwen's punky roots, or the subtle tones she favours these days?), but hope was set high for the result to be nothing but fabulous. And finally, the day is here! You can shop the first fruit of the UD x Gwen collab right now. Spring will bring the second part of the collection, a lipstick line (HALLELUJAH). I received this palette for reviewing purposes, and I was PSYCHED to get into it.

I have written about Orly before - on the Orly Epix line, and on the Orly In the Mix collection. Orly is a less well known brand over here in Belgium, but one of my uni classmates used to work for them and introduced me to Orly. Ever since I tried Orly Epix, I was convinced that Orly is on a slightly different level than most affordable to mid range nailpolishes in the market here. While most nail polishes barely last a day on me without some chipping (except the AMAZING new line of H&M Beauty nail polishes), Orly Epix remained virtually flawless for at least four days.

I place high value on lasting power for nail polishes, as I notice my nails are in much worse condition if I have to use nail polish remover often. Longer lasting polish -> not having to replace my nail colour as often. Orly's In the Mix collection didn't last as long on me, but the new Color Amp'd line is supposed to be similar to the Epix line in that its formula is flexible: both when the base colour and the sealing top coat are setting, as well as afterwards. Even when the polish has dried, the colour remains more flexible than regular nail polish, which keeps your formula from chipping from bending your nails etcetera.

The proof is in the pudding! I received the colour On the List to review, which I picked out because I'm a sucker for rose gold nail polishes.

I don't generally review bodylotions and scrubs, because there isn't much to review about them. They smell of x, they are colour y, and they moisturize/exfoliate your skin. Not much to show or tell you about them, and I never use google to look for reviews of these products either, so you probably don't either. However, sometimes a line so completely wins your heart that you just want to tell everyone about it. The latest offerings by l'Occitane did just that: the limited edition honey + shea butter Melting Honey line, and their collaboration with patisserie chef Pierre Hermé which resulted in, among others, a stunning Jasmin themed Christmas collection.

Hi guys! I promised you to do a post where I advise you on what Urban Decay Naked palette is right for you, or how to choose between the four currently available options. I am lucky enough to own all four (one of the best things blogging has brought me yet!), so I think I'm pretty perfectly placed to lend a word of advise to you. And now is the time to do your research, because the holidays are coming up and you've got a wishlist to make!

About two years ago, I gave you guys a mini-tour around my living room, right after putting up my pretty tissue paper pom poms. One corner that was conspicuously missing in that post, was the sitting area, and that omittance was entirely on purpose. You see, up until about a week ago, we still had this awful little crappy coffee table as the center piece of our seating arrangement. To be precise, it was Ikea's famous LACK table, which we bought years and years ago because we had no money and they practically give you those suckers for free.

The table itself is harmless enough, but it really showed its years of heavy duty use in a household with four cats, two small kids and plenty of TV dinners. The past year or two I could barely look at it without being frustrated. When you get to your late twenties, you start feeling like you should be at the place in your life where you can surround yourself with relatively pretty stuff, you know? But furniture that is beautiful and durable is expensive, man. In addition, I found it hard to find something that went with everything already present in the living room. As a reminder, this is pretty much still what our home looks like, minus the Christmas tree.

I didn't want anything too modern, too minimalist, too small, no shiny surfaces (a bitch to keep clean) nor too expensive. Yeah, I'm pretty much a real life version of Goldilocks. But in the end, I found a coffee table that was just right!

As a self-professed beauty lover, I go through stages of being obsessed with finding the holy grail this or that to perfect a look I have stuck in my head, be it from spontaneous inspiration, or from prowling instagram beauty feeds and pinterest. Recently, I struck up a fancy for duochrome eyeshadows.

For those less obsessed with make up than I am: duochrome means that a product has two colours. Usually, this is one primary colour, and one second colour that comes alive when the light hits it just right, or when you use the proper base coat. I think it all started with Urban Decay's Moondust in Solstice, which the UD make up artist applied for me when I attended the Urban Decay x Ici Paris XL Antwerp shop opening (click to see the make up look). Basically, no make up product is as magical as holographic or duochrome stuff, if you ask me.

After googling some and reading reviews, I figured that there were two things I needed: first, a good duochrome/glitter eyeshadow base, and then some affordable duochrome eyeshadows to play around with. Reviews of indie make up brands pointed me towards Fyrinnae, where I picked up Pixie Epoxy, and Shiro Cosmetics, where I bought Mother of Dragons and Largest Moon of Still Not a Planet. Btw, for my fellow pop culture geeks out there, Shiro Cosmetics does stunning themed collections based on stuff like Game of Thrones, Zelda, Pokemon or Harry Potter. I mean, how awesome is this Felix Felicis lipgloss?

You really have to start with a good base when using these products, so I'll review Pixie Epoxy first.

Hi guys, a quick beauty post today. I received two Orly nail polishes, both part of the In the Mix fall collection. And since I've become a fan of this less well-known brand recently (I'm a sucker for that patented bottle cap in hand-gripped rubber that makes opening old bottles so much easier), I figured I'd post a review for you guys. I put the two together for a simple yet fun manicure: two coats of Midnight Show on all fingers except my ringfinger, and three layers of Turn it Up on the remaining finger as a fun accent. I finished with the topcoat from the Orly Epix collection I reviewed here, which gave the polishes a lovely shiny gel-like finish.

I've had the pleasure of trying a wide range of their products, and
while I have my favourites, the overall quality is just consistently
amazing. While some might say that UD is milking their Naked palette formula by creating new variations of the same theme, but I have to say that with each palette I add to my collection, my love for the Urban Decay brand grows. These palettes are not interchangeable, and I will soon do a post on how to pick the right palette for you. But today, I'm just going to review this little rose gold beauty: Naked 3.

Let's start this beautiful sunny weekend with a make up review. Today, I'm going to talk about the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet lipcreams in Grand Cru and Nude-ist, two of my current favourite lip products.

Last week, I was invited to the ceremonial launch of DKZ sur l'O. This is the new business venture of De Kleine Zavel, an established value in Antwerp's restaurant scene. After the recent relaunch of De Kleine Zavel, the restaurant continued to grow, and when one night DKZ owner Jeremie Landweer had to turn down a big group of potential customers, he started looking for a way to expand his restaurant's capacity. Since Antwerp is a city that has grown around the Scheldt river, it seems only logical that his thoughts wandered towards the water. After meeting with shipping company Greenstarline's François Bouvard, the two came up with the idea to use the renovated Antverpia boat to host DKZ-catered events. A super cool idea, because who doesn't want to eat good food while floating on the Scheldt river, taking in the sights, the soft rocking of the boat, the "Lichtjes van de Schelde"?

The invitation also offered a great opportunity to spend some quality T.I.M.E. with my dude. A proper date night, something we don't get to enjoy too often with work and life getting in the way. We had an absolutely lovely time, and our night on DKZ sur l'O was a unique experience that I would recommend to anyone. A perfect setting for a small-to-medium sized event. I can only imagine how cool it would be to do this in the summertime, to sip wine on deck while the sun sets over the Scheldt. I took loads of pictures to illustrate the atmosphere to you, so enjoy!

I don't now about you, but I'm really sensitive to smells. Nothing takes me back to a beautiful memory, gives me an instand headache or makes my heart beat faster than the right scent. I like being very involved when my boyfriend is in the market for a new perfume, for example. Currently, he's using Dior Homme Intense which smells amaaaaazing - I'm a sucker for that sweet spot where nuances of wood, floral and gourmand scents meet. I don't like sporty fragrances on men, give me those incense type sweet and cozy scents all day errrday.

On myself, my preferences are similar. I like white florals and gourmand type fragrances, which has brought me to love perfumes like Lolita Lempicka's Lolita Lempicka, Viktor and Rolf's Flowerbomb, Prada's Candy and YSL's Black Opium (you can search all of those on Fragrantica btw, I love that website for being so good at predicting which perfumes I'll like).

Anyhoo, to cut the introduction short: I was contacted to review WE Fashion's first line of fragrances: one for women, and one for men, retailing at €24.99 for 50ml. The fragrances are marketed as "opposites attract": two very different yet complementary scents that you can wear on their own or even mixed together. I thought that was a really cute, novel concept to symbolize the dynamics of couples, and I was curious to see (smell) how that would work out in reality.

From fingers during my early years of dabbling with make up, to brushes after I started caring about hygiene and flawless finishes, and now sponges: when it comes to applying foundation, I've tried it all. To me, fingers will always be an inferior method because it's just impossible to avoid patchiness. I only use them when on the road and in need of a quick touch up, but if you use a very light foundation (more like a tinted moisturizer), fingers can do the trick. However, there is a reason why most make up artists use utensils to apply products. Today I'm going to compare two beautyblogger favourites (buffing brush and a dupe for the beautyblender) so you can see which one would work best for you.

Hi guys, recently I was invited to review Kruidvat's webshop, and this is one of the products I ordered. L'Oréal launched the collection exclusive pure reds somewhere in 2014, but these are still available (or again?) in shades of perfect reds developed for iconic beauties Julianne Moore, Doutzen Kroes, Blake Lively and Laetitia Casta.

Hi guys! You might know that I attended the Brussels Urban Decay x Ici Paris XL launch, where all attendees received a flyer that said Urban Decay would be coming to Antwerp in october, and other cities in Belgium after that. And now the time is here! Earlier this week I received a last minute invitation to check out the new UD counters at the Meir Ici Paris XL store before the crowds got in, and obviously I was PSYCHED. Since the shop is at walking distance from my office, I just popped in before I had to be at work, eager to check out the UD counter in pristine condition and to have my make up done by the Urban Decay make up artists. I was happy to have an invitation, because there was already quite a line in front of the store an hour before opening!

A couple of weeks ago, I got a newsletter in my mailbox informing me that Kruidvat, probably Belgium's and the Netherlands' biggest drugstore, had finally launched a Belgian webshop. I was immediately into the idea, because I love spending (way too much) time in my local Kruidvat, and because Belgium is still sadly lagging behind when it comes to online shopping. I'm happy to say we're catching up, though, and Kruidvat taking the plunge is a big one.

After expressing my enthousiasm on my personal FB page, I was contacted by Kruidvat's PR people who offered some store credit in return for an honest review. As I am a fervent online shopper and have actually helped launch a webshop myself some time ago, before I started working on my PhD (I used to be a social media manager at Meubelen Jonckheere), I was quite excited to get into reviewing Kruidvat.be so here we are!